Cree Inc. (CREE) Trading Up 2.5%

Cree Inc. (NASDAQ:CREE) was up 2.5% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $25.12 and last traded at $25.05, with a volume of 560,416 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.45.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CREE. Stephens reissued a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Cree in a report on Wednesday, April 6th. Canaccord Genuity lowered their price objective on Cree from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 6th. Summit Research reissued a “hold” rating and set a $25.00 price objective (down previously from $30.00) on shares of Cree in a report on Wednesday, April 6th. Bank of America Corp. reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cree in a report on Wednesday, April 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lowered their price objective on Cree from $27.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.46.

The firm’s market capitalization is $2.50 billion. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $24.24 and its 200 day moving average is $26.43.

Cree (NASDAQ:CREE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 26th. The LED producer reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. The business had revenue of $367 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $370.49 million. Cree’s quarterly revenue was down 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Cree Inc. will post $0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

A number of institutional investors have made changes to their positions in CREE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Cree by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,162,172 shares of the LED producer’s stock worth $57,669,000 after buying an additional 729,341 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of Cree by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 45,946 shares of the LED producer’s stock worth $1,225,000 after buying an additional 7,057 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Cree by 42.1% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LLC now owns 268,200 shares of the LED producer’s stock worth $7,153,000 after buying an additional 79,500 shares during the period. Cornerstone Capital Management Holdings LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Cree during the fourth quarter worth $9,013,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Cree by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 577,459 shares of the LED producer’s stock worth $15,402,000 after buying an additional 13,702 shares during the period.

Cree, Inc is a manufacturer of lighting-class light emitting diode (LED) products, lighting products and semiconductor products for power and radio-frequency (RF) applications. The Company’s products are focused for applications, such as indoor and outdoor lighting, video displays, transportation, electronic signs and signals, power supplies, inverters and wireless systems.